I'll try to address your questions but I'm no legal mind which is why I wanted her view on it.
It tells you what she thinks about whether Trump is manipulating the system, or whether the system is being manipulated against him.
I would have liked a more explicit response, it felt more like political deflection tbh.
Do you think Trump is filing motions to manipulate the system?
There were some which I understood to be just to delay. Like repeatedly asking the judge to recuse himself while not offering additional reasons on subsequent requests. What is "delay" to me could be "trying to bring attention to a corrupt judge" to another, I understand that. I lean towards the former as the greater motivator.
I don't know enough about the legal system to answer most of the other questions, for example whether it's ethical/moral to delay the cases until after the election. Certainly it's not illegal, but one point often made is how much it costs taxpayers to extend it. Yes I know the initial cost of them even happening is enormous but we're talking about the use of employing delay tactics.
I believe Trump could run for president on his own terms while pointing out the hypocrisy of being singled out for ticky tacky charges while they say "no one is above the law". There's no need for him to capitulate and become a controlled candidate.
In my view he's trying to stay more favorable to independent voters who could be swayed by headlines.
In the New York lawsuit, he was indicted on March 2023 and the trial began on April 15, 2024 and concluded on May 30, 2024 - 14 months later.
(Compare this to Ghislane Maxwell, who was indicted in July 2020 and the trail finished December 2021 - 17 months later)
The District of Columbia trial was put on hold in February 2024 while waiting for the Supreme Court to determine whether Trump is immune from prosecution.
The Georgia trial is paused while the Georgia Court of Appeals decides whether to disqualify Fani Willis
The Florida trial has been indefinitely postponed, while Judge Cannon has been declassifying tons of documents that expose the collusion between the Biden WH, DOJ, Jack Smith, National Archives etc.
Which of these cases do you believe possibly suffers from unnecessary motions purely to delay the cases beyond the election date?
Don't know if that was sarcasm but just wanted to drop a note to say that it's been a hell of a week. Hope to get back to this in the next couple of days.
And finally able to get to it! I'm glad to go through the exercise because if challenged on something that I took for granted (that Trump wants to delay the trials until after the election), I want to have more background on motivations.
Interacting with mods in the past has lead to my being banned, and I realize I have a lengthy "rap sheet", but you do come across as one of the more even-tempered mods so I'll allow myself to speak plainly.
For trials across the board, there were many calls for a mistrial (see trials for Cannon, Kaplan, Merchan, Engorgon). Below is one example, from the recent NY trial. Per the bolded part, I do concede that this tactic isn't exclusive to Trump's strategy. It sounds like the motion (for a mistrial) could also be used a set-up for a later appeal; again I'm not a law-head and this is the kind of thing I'd like cleared up by someone who is.
Trump’s lawyers objected to the testimony and requested a mistrial, saying the lurid details Daniels disclosed had prejudiced jurors against defendants. Judge Juan Merchan rejected that request, but still conceded jurors had heard information they should not have.
While Trump is likely to use the episode in any potential appeal, experts doubted whether he would succeed.
“Skirmishes like this happen all the time, and defense attorneys call for mistrials in many, if not most, criminal trials. I don’t think this was even close to cause for a mistrial and don’t think it would end up being a major issue on appeal,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office who now teaches at New York Law School.
And I found some details about the motion I alluded to earlier (re-submission without adding anything new):
The former president is also attempting again to force Merchan’s recusal from the case, citing his adult daughter’s professional activities for Democrats. But under New York law, a judge is generally not conflicted out by the activities of his adult children unless they had a substantial interest in the proceedings, like being a witness or party in the case. (And as any parent can tell you, the idea that a child’s politics automatically reflect the parent’s is ludicrous.) The facts and the law remain materially unchanged from when Merchan denied Trump’s first recusal request. The judge based his ruling on an opinion from the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, which found “nothing in the inquiry to suggest that the outcome of the case could have any effect on the judge’s relative, the relative’s business, or any of their interests.” Nothing of any consequence has changed since then, so this motion too is futile.
I couldn't get a good read on the presidential immunity motions. The lower court was quick to dismiss it but it's been sitting with the SCOTUS for so long. Guess we'll find out Monday whether it had merit!
I'll try to address your questions but I'm no legal mind which is why I wanted her view on it.
I would have liked a more explicit response, it felt more like political deflection tbh.
There were some which I understood to be just to delay. Like repeatedly asking the judge to recuse himself while not offering additional reasons on subsequent requests. What is "delay" to me could be "trying to bring attention to a corrupt judge" to another, I understand that. I lean towards the former as the greater motivator.
I don't know enough about the legal system to answer most of the other questions, for example whether it's ethical/moral to delay the cases until after the election. Certainly it's not illegal, but one point often made is how much it costs taxpayers to extend it. Yes I know the initial cost of them even happening is enormous but we're talking about the use of employing delay tactics.
I believe Trump could run for president on his own terms while pointing out the hypocrisy of being singled out for ticky tacky charges while they say "no one is above the law". There's no need for him to capitulate and become a controlled candidate.
In my view he's trying to stay more favorable to independent voters who could be swayed by headlines.
In the New York lawsuit, he was indicted on March 2023 and the trial began on April 15, 2024 and concluded on May 30, 2024 - 14 months later.
(Compare this to Ghislane Maxwell, who was indicted in July 2020 and the trail finished December 2021 - 17 months later)
The District of Columbia trial was put on hold in February 2024 while waiting for the Supreme Court to determine whether Trump is immune from prosecution.
The Georgia trial is paused while the Georgia Court of Appeals decides whether to disqualify Fani Willis
The Florida trial has been indefinitely postponed, while Judge Cannon has been declassifying tons of documents that expose the collusion between the Biden WH, DOJ, Jack Smith, National Archives etc.
Which of these cases do you believe possibly suffers from unnecessary motions purely to delay the cases beyond the election date?
I'm out and about but I will get back to this when I can sit at my desktop and dig
I am eagerly waiting to hear from you ...
Don't know if that was sarcasm but just wanted to drop a note to say that it's been a hell of a week. Hope to get back to this in the next couple of days.
And finally able to get to it! I'm glad to go through the exercise because if challenged on something that I took for granted (that Trump wants to delay the trials until after the election), I want to have more background on motivations.
Interacting with mods in the past has lead to my being banned, and I realize I have a lengthy "rap sheet", but you do come across as one of the more even-tempered mods so I'll allow myself to speak plainly.
For trials across the board, there were many calls for a mistrial (see trials for Cannon, Kaplan, Merchan, Engorgon). Below is one example, from the recent NY trial. Per the bolded part, I do concede that this tactic isn't exclusive to Trump's strategy. It sounds like the motion (for a mistrial) could also be used a set-up for a later appeal; again I'm not a law-head and this is the kind of thing I'd like cleared up by someone who is.
And I found some details about the motion I alluded to earlier (re-submission without adding anything new):
I couldn't get a good read on the presidential immunity motions. The lower court was quick to dismiss it but it's been sitting with the SCOTUS for so long. Guess we'll find out Monday whether it had merit!